​Creswick Remembrance Day Services

This year for the first time there will be no Flanders Poppies flowering in the garden bed along side Albert street opposite the Bandstand.

Instead the Poppies have been planted in the newly completed Field of Crosses Memorial Gardens. The Poppies were planted in August by Council staff. See Flanders Poppies new garden.

MC - Alan Morris - President, Creswick-Smeaton RSL

Good morning Ladies, Gentlemen, Boys and Girls.

On behalf of the Creswick- Smeaton RSL Sub Branch I welcome you to this 98th anniversary of the armistice, which ended the First World War.

World War I began in 1914 (102 years ago) and lasted for four years. More than 60,000 Australians were killed, many more were wounded and many more suffered for the rest of their lives.

At 5am on 11 November 1918, the German government representatives accepted the Armistice terms presented to them by the allies. The armistice became effective at 11am the same day, and as the guns fell silent on the Western Front in France and Belgium, four years of hostilities ended.

In Australia and the other allied countries, 11th November became known as Armistice Day, a day to remember those who died in World War I.

After World War II the Australian Government agreed to the United Kingdom's proposal that Armistice Day be renamed Remembrance Day to commemorate those who were killed in both World Wars.

Today the loss of all lives from all wars and conflicts is commemorated on Remembrance Day in Australia and the other commonwealth countries.

Remembrance Day is not a day for parades or to celebrate a victory. It is a day for remembering all those brave servicemen and women who gave their lives in the defence of our nation. It is also a day to remember all those ex servicemen and women who returned from hostilities only to suffer with physical or mental injuries received as a result of those hostilities, and to remember the many ex servicemen and women who today are homeless as a result of their service and who have to live in substandard conditions. Remembrance Day is just another day; we should be remembering all these people for every day of every year, for without their service we would not be enjoying the conditions that we enjoy in this great country of ours.

As a mark of respect to those who have died and suffered, we will be observing one minute’s silence at 1100 to reflect on the loss and suffering caused by war.

Today we honour another local hero, Matthew William Borradale who is number 5 on our cenotaph here.

Born in January 1886 in Creswick, Matthew worked as a labourer and was married to Emily when he enlisted on the 24 August 1914. His service number was 112 and held the rank of Private with the 8th Battalion.

He embarked from Melbourne on HMAT A24 “Benalla” on the 19 October and arrived in Alexandria Egypt on 2 Dec 1914

He was promoted to Driver on 26 January 1915, and on 17 April, he embarked on HMT Novian to Gallipoli

Matthew was shipped to hospital in Alexandria on the 17 June due to illness and discharged 4 weeks later, then on the 5 August, he was charged with disobeying an order from an officer and awarded 21 days detention.

On 11th September 1915, Matthew was shipped from Alexandria to the Front.

On the 20 January 1916, Matthew faced a Field General Court Marshall at Tel-el-kebir for intent to defraud - by changing his paybook by 3 pound sterling as an amount owed, and was sentenced to 12 months with hard labour, but this was quashed 21 days later.

He was admitted to hospital with defective eyes on the 11 March 1916 then discharged to his unit on the 23rd March 1916 and shipped to Marseille.

The next entry in his service records is not until the 10 May 1917 when Matthew received a gunshot wound to his right leg and was sent to the Casualty Clearing Station in France.

On 13th May 1916, he was transferred to Etaples when 5 days later he died of his wounds.

Matthew Borradale is buried at the Etaples Military Cemetery in France

We have some of our local schoolchildren who will now read a selection of poems. I'd like to introduce them in turn, starting with --